Minor things that bother you

[kernals12]

The way that, whenever I'm driving at dawn or dusk, my car is fooled into thinking it's night and puts the center display on night mode, making it virtually impossible to read the GPS.

Does your car have no manual brightness adjuster?

It does, but it defaults to this automatic one

[thenetwork]

One I've been noticing more and more lately:

Home videos and/or ads on the internet where allegedly "random" encounters with others (think "man on the street") or random events are CLEARLY staged or scripted. 

Not to mention the different narrated videos and/or ads that use the same handful of AI-generated voices. 

I think of it as more being too lazy to use a real original voice.

[LilianaUwU]

One I've been noticing more and more lately:

Home videos and/or ads on the internet where allegedly "random" encounters with others (think "man on the street") or random events are CLEARLY staged or scripted. 

How the fuck do people believe these is beyond me.

[jeffandnicole]

One I've been noticing more and more lately:

Home videos and/or ads on the internet where allegedly "random" encounters with others (think "man on the street") or random events are CLEARLY staged or scripted. 

Not to mention the different narrated videos and/or ads that use the same handful of AI-generated voices. 

I think of it as more being too lazy to use a real original voice.

What's scarier is the number of people that believe these are real. 4 cell phone cameras perfectly positioned?

[thenetwork]

One I've been noticing more and more lately:

Home videos and/or ads on the internet where allegedly "random" encounters with others (think "man on the street") or random events are CLEARLY staged or scripted. 

Not to mention the different narrated videos and/or ads that use the same handful of AI-generated voices. 

I think of it as more being too lazy to use a real original voice.

What's scarier is the number of people that believe these are real. 4 cell phone cameras perfectly positioned?

Them young'uns generation believe and buy ANYTHING they see on TikTok!

[kernals12]

One I've been noticing more and more lately:

Home videos and/or ads on the internet where allegedly "random" encounters with others (think "man on the street") or random events are CLEARLY staged or scripted. 

Not to mention the different narrated videos and/or ads that use the same handful of AI-generated voices. 

I think of it as more being too lazy to use a real original voice.

What's scarier is the number of people that believe these are real. 4 cell phone cameras perfectly positioned?

Them young'uns generation believe and buy ANYTHING they see on TikTok!

I don't think this generation is uniquely gullible, it's just that social media puts it on display

[dvferyance]

WISN radio in Milwaukee is owned by Iheart media and for whatever reason they just refuse to carry Glenn Beck despite that nearly every other Iheart talk station does. They just insist on keeping the late morning slot local very odd very few stations in general go to another local show after their early morning local show is over.

[vdeane]

The way that, whenever I'm driving at dawn or dusk, my car is fooled into thinking it's night and puts the center display on night mode, making it virtually impossible to read the GPS.

Does your car have no manual brightness adjuster?

Wouldn't that just result in night mode being as bright as day mode, and too bright at night?  I prefer the way it used to be (and still is, for my 2014 Civic) with the mode switching when the driver turns the headlights on/off, although that has the issue that screens will be too dim if the headlights need to be turned on in broad daylight, like for a PA work zone or if it's raining and sunny at the same time.

Home videos and/or ads on the internet where allegedly "random" encounters with others (think "man on the street") or random events are CLEARLY staged or scripted. 

NY has a PSA urging people to get colon cancer or prostrate screenings that is hilarious because of this.  It starts with a man sitting in an otherwise empty waiting room, and then an overly happy/enthusiastic guy sits right next to him and asks if he's there for a cancer screening.  When the first guy nervously says yes, the newcomer excitedly says "me too!  Don't worry, there's nothing to it!" and then gets up and does the typical PSA talk to the camera.  Along the way a doctor drops out of the sky and other people wheel in screens that close to show a typical PSA backdrop.  What makes this hilarious rather than cringey is that they guy reacts like a normal person would to these events happening, being weirded out by the overly enthusiastic guy and then surprised when things get weird (relatively speaking).  He even gets up and peeks through the screen with a look that says "WTF?" in the end.

I wish I could find it online to link to.

[mgk920]

WISN radio in Milwaukee is owned by Iheart media and for whatever reason they just refuse to carry Glenn Beck despite that nearly every other Iheart talk station does. They just insist on keeping the late morning slot local very odd very few stations in general go to another local show after their early morning local show is over.

Ratings.  They, WISN - 1130AM, have strong ratings wherever their signal reaches (the Appleton-Green Bay area is in that range).

They are reshuffling their deck after the first of the year.  Part of that is their three hour local afternoon drive time guy is retiring and his time is being taken up by their two hour local mid-late morning guy.

Mike

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The way that, whenever I'm driving at dawn or dusk, my car is fooled into thinking it's night and puts the center display on night mode, making it virtually impossible to read the GPS.

Does your car have no manual brightness adjuster?

Wouldn't that just result in night mode being as bright as day mode, and too bright at night?

Well, I can only speak for my 2015 Jeep but at night I can manually dim the brightness with a panel wheel (if I'm driving rurally at night sometimes I dim it to minimum level), and during the day if it's raining or whatever reason I need to use the lights I can bring the dashboard up to daytime brightness. I cannot change the brightnes levels if the headlignts are not on though.

[1995hoo]

The way that, whenever I'm driving at dawn or dusk, my car is fooled into thinking it's night and puts the center display on night mode, making it virtually impossible to read the GPS.

Does your car have no manual brightness adjuster?

Wouldn't that just result in night mode being as bright as day mode, and too bright at night?

Well, I can only speak for my 2015 Jeep but at night I can manually dim the brightness with a panel wheel (if I'm driving rurally at night sometimes I dim it to minimum level), and during the day if it's raining or whatever reason I need to use the lights I can bring the dashboard up to daytime brightness. I cannot change the brightnes levels if the headlignts are not on though.

In addition to the brightness adjustor, my 2004 TL has a button that says "MAX." It brings the dashboard lights (and sat-nav screen) up to full daytime brightness in the situation where I need headlights during the day, and it acts as a toggle so that when I press it again, the lights go back to whatever dimmer setting I had configured as the default when I turn on the headlights.

My wife's 2015 TLX has a dashboard sensor that detects the outside lighting and adjusts the dashboard lighting and the two screens. I find it a bit overly aggressive in dimming them. On a fairly dark day like yesterday it would have dimmed them too soon.

[kernals12]

Lieutenant Columbo would be all over this thread

[DTComposer]

New minor thing:

The USGS topographic maps are poor-quality compared to what they used to be - basically, since they started going digital, they've contained less information and have lost any sense of the cartographic art.

I would be proud to display a 1950s-1980s version of a USGS map (and indeed, had a few on my walls when I was younger), but wouldn't do so with a more recent vintage.

[kkt]

Lieutenant Columbo would be all over this thread

"Oh, just one more thing, Mrs. Johnson..."

[kernals12]

Lieutenant Columbo would be all over this thread

"Oh, just one more thing, Mrs. Johnson..."

"Something's bothering me..."

[Rothman]

New minor thing:

The USGS topographic maps are poor-quality compared to what they used to be - basically, since they started going digital, they've contained less information and have lost any sense of the cartographic art.

I would be proud to display a 1950s-1980s version of a USGS map (and indeed, had a few on my walls when I was younger), but wouldn't do so with a more recent vintage.

Agreed, but I thought USGS was correcting this poor evolution in newer iterations.

[DTComposer]

New minor thing:

The USGS topographic maps are poor-quality compared to what they used to be - basically, since they started going digital, they've contained less information and have lost any sense of the cartographic art.

I would be proud to display a 1950s-1980s version of a USGS map (and indeed, had a few on my walls when I was younger), but wouldn't do so with a more recent vintage.

Agreed, but I thought USGS was correcting this poor evolution in newer iterations.

I will say it's somewhat better. There were a bunch issued in 2012 that didn't even have the elevation lines! (you can find these on TopoView) The 2015 series was definitely better, but I feel like later series took a step back: for instance, the 2021 series has no difference between major arterials and minor roads (same stroke width/color). Street name labels are often awkwardly placed, and there are so many minor streets named that give the impression that they're major streets.

Schools and hospitals aren't named like they used to be; range and township lines (and ranchos in California) are there, but city boundaries are not; parks aren't indicated by name or coloring.

What's there is accurate...they're just so meh.

[kernals12]

KPMG sounds like a radio station, not an auditing firm.

[wxfree]

New minor thing:

The USGS topographic maps are poor-quality compared to what they used to be - basically, since they started going digital, they've contained less information and have lost any sense of the cartographic art.

I would be proud to display a 1950s-1980s version of a USGS map (and indeed, had a few on my walls when I was younger), but wouldn't do so with a more recent vintage.

I want to complain about the maps that don't even have contours.  Imagine, topographic maps that don't even have topography.  It's like they're trying to mess with us.

But I see that someone's already done that, so I'll go with something else: the new NWS radar display system.  I like the display and such, but it no longer shows the radar mode, which helps us interpret the data.  It also lost a bunch of radar products that were once available.  Also, they're also copying the worst things about Google Maps.  Every change in map position or zoom level is saved as a unique address, clogging up history.  I view the radar in a private browser to prevent that.  On Google, that at least takes you to the same map, but the radar view will be different if you go back to the same address.  It goes to the same place and zoom level, but shows the current radar display.  Also, Google Maps doesn't show county lines.  Google Earth did once, but they decided to take that away.  The radar view doesn't support county lines.  It's not like those lines are particularly informative while also not significantly intruding on the radar data.  It's just a way for the viewers to quickly and easily understand the geography of the area without requiring a bunch of symbols and labels that block the view of the storms.  Surely such things aren't important.

[vdeane]

In my apartment complex, there are three dumpsters in the garbage area, the first and the middle one for garbage, and the last for recyclables.  But people are lazy and often use only the first one, and only the front at that.  It's amazing how many times it will appear to be "full" with people putting garbage bags on the ground only for there to be tons of space in the back with the middle dumpster almost empty.  I've often found recyclables in the garbage dumpsters, too.

[Scott5114]

the new NWS radar display system.  I like the display and such, but it no longer shows the radar mode, which helps us interpret the data.  It also lost a bunch of radar products that were once available.  Also, they're also copying the worst things about Google Maps.  Every change in map position or zoom level is saved as a unique address, clogging up history.  I view the radar in a private browser to prevent that.  On Google, that at least takes you to the same map, but the radar view will be different if you go back to the same address.  It goes to the same place and zoom level, but shows the current radar display.  Also, Google Maps doesn't show county lines.  Google Earth did once, but they decided to take that away.  The radar view doesn't support county lines.  It's not like those lines are particularly informative while also not significantly intruding on the radar data.  It's just a way for the viewers to quickly and easily understand the geography of the area without requiring a bunch of symbols and labels that block the view of the storms.  Surely such things aren't important.

If you're an advanced enough Doppler user that you need anything more than reflectivity, I'd suggest buying a copy of GRLevel3. It is well worth the money if you live in tornado country.

[Rothman]

Package tracking that says, "Your order has shipped!" when all that has been done is a label printout.

[ZLoth]

Sending a package to a buddy of mine in North Carolina. It was shipped out on Monday, December 9th with an three day non-guaranteed arrival date of Thursday, December 12th. It only left the Texas distribution center on December 14th.

[wanderer2575]

Package tracking that says, "Your order has shipped!" when all that has been done is a label printout.

"Your flight has departed" when all that has happened is that the plane pulled away 50 feet from the gate.

[SEWIGuy]

Package tracking that says, "Your order has shipped!" when all that has been done is a label printout.

"Your flight has departed" when all that has happened is that the plane pulled away 50 feet from the gate.

That one makes sense since the time to taxi is included in flight times.